Cedrus

( Bot. ) A gen. of trees, ord. Pinacese. The cedar of Lebanon ( C. libani ) has been celebrated from the earliest ages for its grave beauty, its longevity, and its magnitude; also for the excellence and durability of its timber. It is often alluded to in Scripture as an emblem of stability and prosperity. The grove of cedars on Mount Lebanon is about three-quarters of a mile in circumference; but of the 400 trees now standing, there are but 12 of extraordinary age. One of these is 63 feet in circumference, and has po ibly been in existence for some 2,000 years. This celebrated tree is not peculiar to Mount Lebanon; it grows also upon mounts Amanus and Taurus in Asia Minor, and in other parts of the Levant, but does not elsewhere reach the size and height of those on Mount Lebanon. It has also been cultivated in the gardens of Europe; two venerable individuals of this species exist at Chiswick in England; and there is a very beautiful one in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. The beauty of the cedar consists in the proportion and symmetry of its wide-spreading branches and cone-like top. The gum, which exudes both from the trunk and the cones or fruit, is soft like balsam; its fragrance is medicine in India. Two other species of the typical genus, C. scandens and senega lens is , have purgative and emetic barks. The order consists of 260 species, chiefly natives of the warmer parts of Asia, North America, and Europe.